Hi, I have a problem. I know next to nothing about credit, but I'm trying to learn. I've been trying to build credit recently by trying to get a credit card from my bank and/or a gas card. I got a response from Shell on the gas card saying why they wouldn't give me one. Apparently my credit wasn't good enough. I thought I just had no credit at all. So I looked at my credit report for the first time ever and saw that I had one negative thing on it; the rest of it was blank. The negative thing was a 345$ bill that I didn't pay from 4 years ago. The number and address provided on my report was for the collection agency. That's the only information I have about it, so I can't find out who I owe the money to or WHY unless I call the collection agency. Now I've been reading that I shouldn't talk to them for various reasons. So that kinda puts me in a predicament. I'll gladly pay that money if I owe it, but I want to know who I owe it to and why before I do. But I've been reading that I should be careful about paying it, because that puts me in, yet again, another predicament, because that can take away the 4 year old "no payment" negative on my credit and add a fresh new "late payment" negative on my credit. Any advice on what I should do? Thanks.
Dispute the derogatory tradeline through the credit reporting agencies. If verified, ask for validation from the debt collector. You also will need to ask a friend or relative to add you as an authorized user to at least two established credit card accounts. This will establish a score for you after which you can begin to get your own accounts. If you cannot get a friend or relative to do it for you, there are corporations which offer this service as a fee (*GASP* we're one). Be very careful if you choose this route and do your due diligence. You can also get a few secured cards but, be forewarned that it will take much longer this way to obtain a good score because the accounts will have no history.
So if I dispute it, how it works is they have to get the information to prove that I really owe that money? If they don't prove it, or take too long, it's removed from my credit report? What happens if they do get the information and prove that I owe the money? Should I pay it on the promise that it'll be removed from my credit report? Will disputing it hurt me at all? My mom is really wary of me disputing it. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone with good credit, so I was hoping I'd be able to start from scratch on my own after I fix this little problem. Thanks for the response.
You can always pay to be added to a good tradeline with a long history.Well its already a neg,you might get letters from who owns has the debt to pay.So you address that problem when it happens.Credit repair is more than one step,by doing step one,you move to step two,etc.
It will not hurt you even presuming it is verified. Legally, it must be marked as being in dispute which takes it out of your FICO calculations. Assuming all is done legally, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. Starting on your own is fine. You'll just have to do so with some secured cards. Not to push you but, you could take the money used to establish those secured accounts and purchase some established lines. The difference is a 730 mid-FICO and a 620.
How should I dispute it? Should I just use the button on the website or should I mail a letter? I read that I should mail the letter, but it was just some googled website, so I trust what you guys say more. Purchase established lines? Do you have any more information on that? Like a website I can read that tells all about it? I basically purchase a higher credit score to start with? Thanks for the responses, guys.
You absolutely want to dispute it in writing. Target specific data fields that you think are inaccurate or any data field which has no information as incomplete. Date of status, date of last activity, account statuts, etc., are all good fields to dispute. Buying seasoned tradelines is a fairly old process. It is sometimes referred to as piggybacking. Essentially, you are added to someone elses accounts and within about 30 to 45 days, those accounts are transposed over on to your credit reports. FICO scores them as your own and you reap the benefit of the accounts history and avaliable credit.
What's the difference between writing them a letter and just simply clicking on the dispute button? And so if I write the letter, is there any guidelines I can look at so I do it correctly? It's weird you can do that. So who do I piggyback on? Just anyone with good credit who will let me? Thanks for the response.
Bumping because I'm going to write that letter today and was wondering if anyone could show me or tell me what needs to be included in it and what I should say. Is there any guide anywhere? And should I include my SSN and copy of my drivers license?
You should include your SSN, DOB and all pertinent information so that the credit reporting agencies can identify you. I would advise sending you license in as well. The difference between online disputes and sending them in writing is that: 1) you have a record of what was conveyed in the event you should need it later; and, 2) you can target data fields such as date of status, major first delinquency, account status and so on and so forth. The online option severely inhibits what you can dispute and accordingly, it isn't advantageous to the consumer. Finally, you just need to write about what you think is inaccurate and/or incomplete regarding the account. No need for a boilerplate or fancy language. Just go straight to the point.
Ok thanks. Any idea which of the credit places I should send it to, or do they all share their information? I used Experian to get my report, so I guess I should send it to them. Is there a specific place at Experian I should send the letter? I really want to make sure it gets to the right place since it will contain such important information. And when I write the letter, just say "this is wrong, please remove it from my credit report"? I guess I'll print a picture of the negative item and circle it, saying what I circled is incorrect.
You need to send it to each bureau individually. You should have gotten your individual reports from each bureau. For each one, you will go through and dispute the actual parts that are incorrect, such as balance, status, etc.
So each of them could possibly have different information? Like, for example, Experian might have this negative item but the others might not? Well Experian is the only one I'm able to get a report from. The other two are giving me trouble. One is telling me it can't give me a credit report online and then lists like 7390 reasons why that could be. That really narrows it down for me. The other one just simply says "You already have an account" and then expects me to log in. I've never in my life made an account on that website, since this is the first time in the history of me that I've even visited that website. If I have my negative removed from just Experian, will it stay on the others? They don't share information?
With the others try buying a report from them.I would call an find out about the account your already have.
I found how to mail in a request for my credit report. So I'm mailing one to both of them. As far as disputing the negative item from Experian, I'm still a little unclear as to what to include in the message. I'm going to include a printed copy of the screen with the negative item circled in red. But what should my letter say? That it's simply "wrong" and to "please remove it from my report"? I also need to know the exact place to mail the disputes. I don't want to send copies of my SSN to the wrong address.
They should give you the address for disputes. As Apex said, you need to dispute the fields that are incorrect, such as "balance is incorrect" or "account type is incorrect" or whatever the incorrect item is.
Ok I'll check the website and see if I can find it. I didn't see anything on the actual credit report other than a "dispute" button that I didn't want to click. Yeah, but I'm just wondering about what wording I should use. I'm going to include a printed screenshot of the page with a circle around what I'm disputing, but as for the note I'm sending with it, I'm unsure about exactly what to say. I've read on some websites about what to include in the letter, but it's telling me to include reasons why I believe it's incorrect. I don't really have any reasons why I think it's incorrect. I'm just disputing it to get the wheels in motion to get it off my report. I don't care if I have to end up paying it off. I've read various things online about what my dispute letter should say. I've heard I should keep it to a minimum. For example just saying "It's wrong; fix it.". I was just wondering what you guys thought about it. Like what you guys have done before that's yielded good results.
I wrote the letter. Here's the exact words I used. I hope it will suffice. I am writing to dispute a negative item on my credit report. I have enclosed two copies of the credit report pages. The first page I have the negative item circled. The second page contains all the information regarding the negative item. The negative item in question is incorrect and I would like to have it removed from my report. Thanks. Then I listed the enclosures. Copy of my credit report pages, copy of my W-2 form (since I can't find my SS card. I've read that I can use my W-2 in place of it since it contains my SS#) and a copy of my drivers license.
Sounds fine. Don't be quick to pay it off if it's old. That can up the date of last activity and lower your score.
advice on old collections I am planning to buy a home within 2-3 years since it will take that long to repair a horrendous credit record. I was advised that all collection accounts must be paid but according to the board, that is risky. Will they accept payment without re-aging the accounts? Is there any alternative? Are charge-offs worse than collections and if they are paid will a paid charge-off fare better than an unpaid one? I'll admit, I've been a poor money manager, poor saver, lived above my means and without a budget, but I've learned from those mistakes. I now have a handle on monthly expenses and am beginning to establish better savings habits, but have no idea where to begin with a low 500 score. Seeking some board wisdom. Thanks.
